Scorsese, McQueen, Cuaron & Greengrass Score DGA Nominations

As we continue into the awards season in early 2014, more guilds are announcing their nominees/awards for the outstanding films of 2013. Next up is the Directors Guild of America, one of the heavy weights and usually strong indicators of what's to come. The DGA announced nominees for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film 2013, and included among them are many of the names we've been heralding as the best this year - Gravity's Cuaron, 12 Years a Slave's McQueen and The Wolf of Wall Street's Scorsese (earning his 11th nom). Noticably missing: Her director Spike Jonze and Nebraska director Alexander Payne. Things are getting interesting with the awards this year. Full list of 2014 DGA nominations below.

The nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film 2013 (alphabetically):

› Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity
› Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips
› Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave
› David O. Russell for American Hustle
› Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street

"To be chosen by your peers in a year full of incredibly well-crafted films is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement," said Directors Guild President Paris Barclay. "The passion and vision of each of the nominees resulted in tremendously diverse films that kept audiences mesmerized. Congratulations to each of the nominees on a job very well done." This is Scorsese's eleventh DGA Award nomination, Russell's second, and the first for McQueen, Greengrass and Cuarón. For more on this year's nominees visit DGA.org.

Last year's set of DGA nominees were a diverse group, with Affleck being the frontrunner in the end: Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hooper, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg. Eventually Affleck won for Argo and the documentary Searching for Sugarman took home the top prize. A sign of things to come at the Oscars? I'm very happy for Alfonso Cuaron and Steve McQueen, but I would much rather see Spike Jonze (of Her) or the Coen Bros (of Inside Llewyn Davis) or even some up-and-coming filmmakers (like Destin Cretton of Short Term 12 and James Ponsoldt of The Spectacular Now) get recognized. We'll be following the awards.